The Toddler Years

Making bedtime easy??

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Mom2boys1417 wrote:

So my 2.5yo screams and cries every time we put him to bed. We have to shut the door or else he would just run around and not go to sleep ever! We have tried telling stories, taking before bedtime, reading books and he is calm until we leave the room. If we stay in the room he just wants to play and won't go to sleep for at least an hour. Anyone have any good tips on how to put him to bed without him screaming? His bedtime is 8pm and he usually wakes between 730-830am

What I did was easy but probably not convenient for parents. I slept with my son in his full size bed after reading in bed. It was quick for the most part. Now he is 3.5 and I just couldn't sleep like that anymore due to being annoyed by that and I have shoulder pain so I need more space. I explained to him how my shoulder hurts so now I read to him as he falls asleep and it was 45 min of reading or playing, way too late long. Lately my hubby stepped in and told that this reading and conversation must stop (lo would fall asleep by 10:45) so I finished quicker and left and he did not make a peep. In the beginning lo woke me up and we had power struggle but I won

Is he napping during the day? It seems to me that he might not be tired enoug at bedtime. My sonwill do this when he got too much sleep during the day. Also, just be very consistent about a bedtIme routine and give it awhile. When you're through with the routine, say something like " love you close your eyes" (also the same every night and just leave. I have to let my son yell/cry sometimes but I feel like if I go to him it just reinforces the behavior. Good luck, you are not alone in having a spirited child.

Yes he does nap during the day still. On same days that he doesn't nap, he will still do the same thing at bedtime. On rare occasions he will go to bed with no problem, but 98% of the time he has an issue.

We have a similar problem. LO has a full size bed so I often will lay with her until she falls asleep. Lately that just seems to prolong falling asleep. Last night I told her I was going to take a show and come back and check on her. She seemed ok with that. Didn't work as well tonight she has Daddy in there trying to get her to sleep now.

I think waking up at 7:30-8:30 is too late a wakeup time for an 8pm bedtime especially if he naps. We keep the house dim and quiet after 8pm, and my son usually goes to bed closer to 9pm and he wakes up at 7am. He just turned 3. He doesn't nap every day.

Zero screen time, lots of physical activity outside, nice warm bath after dinner, bedtime at 7pm, sit in a chair next to his bed and require him to lay quiet and still. Make sure the room is dark with white noise on loud. Have a set morning wake up time that does not change - 7am. Make sure LO is laying down in a dark room with white noise just after lunch each day for at least 1 hour. It's way, way too early to drop that nap.

With my kids we point out when they feel tired and remind them how good it feels to sleep and be well rested. We talk about the importance of sleep, how it helps us to recharge and grow healthy and strong. We talk about how being tired makes us grumpy and lazy, and being well rested makes us feel happy and energetic.

At age 2.5yrs it's all about discipline. Work on general obedience during the day with him so that he will obey the first time you tell him something.

Ugh yeh he doesn't listen at all, I have a 3 mo old as well so I think some of his rebelling has to do with his new brother. He didn't listen much and had a hard time going to bed before baby so it's not all because of his brother

Before altering the amount of sleep he gets, I would try to gage how he's measuring up. You can find charts for the range of sleep they need at different ages, I believe it's something like 12 - 14 hours total for a 2 yr old. My dd has always been on the short end of sleep, but that just means that some kids will be on the long end - and it sounds like yours is.

My dd does a similar behavior - I put the book down and she pops up ready to play again. In our case, she also has a full and we lay down with her. Some nights she's too wiggly, and then I'll leave her for 5-10 minutes saying something along the lines of "It's bed time, I'm not here to play". Generally, she's crying at this time. When I return, she's ready to snuggle and lay down better. We're trying to move away from this, so some nights I'll sit on a bench we have in her room and play on my phone while she lays down. She's not ready to be left alone to sleep yet, as it sounds like your LO is not.

Since your lo has a toddler bed, maybe a chair next to the bed would work. I'd probably bring in a phone or something to entertain your brain if it's not too distracting to your son.

Does lo have a comfort object. My lo loves to cuddle with her blanket and I only give it at bedtime. She also only gets her beaming buggie at bedtime (not naptime) and she will play with it until she falls asleep (usually 20 min). I always recommend Dr. Ferber's book for sleep problems because it works like a charm for me any time I have any kind of sleep issue. It's an easy read and you don't have to read the whole thing, just the pet that relates to your lo.

I just replied to another person's post who said their kid screams before bedtime. I attached a screen shot of my response to them, since it explains the suggestion our pediatrician gave us for getting our LO to sleep. We are not fans of sleeping with our LO because prolongs getting to the ultimate goal.

He does cry it out most of the time. He is 2.5 though and is in a toddler bed so recently has lays by the door and kicks it and screams. It's hard to not go in there when he is kicking the door like crazy

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